Ceramic sovereignty documents on display in Dong Nai

Rare maps and documents proving Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa
(Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes have come closer to the
public in an artistic way as dozens of their ceramic copies are on show
in the southern province of Dong Nai.

Opening the exhibition on
November 19, Mai Song Be, Director of the Dong Nai Radio and Television
Station – the event’s organiser, said the 31 ceramic copies were created
by Dinh Cong Lai, head of the Ceramics Faculty at the province’s Fine
Arts College, and his associates.

The event at the station’s
precinct aims to provide knowledge on the country’s sea and island
sovereignty for the public, especially the young generation, he added.

The
exhibits include a replica of “Hoang trieu truc tinh dia du toan do” (a
Chinese administrative map of provincial boundaries) published in 1904
under China’s Qing Dynasty, which shows that the southernmost point of
China at that time ended at Hainan island only, without mentioning
Vietnam’s Hoang Sa and Truong Sa.

Meanwhile, “An Nam dai quoc
hoa do” (the Map of the Great Country of An Nam) drawn by Jean Louis
Taberd of France in 1838 depicts the archipelago of “Paracel seu Cat
Vang” - Hoang Sa island as within Vietnam’s waters.

Another
highlight is the duplicate of a map of the Quang Ngai area in “Tuyen tap
Thien Nam Tu Chi Lo Do Thu” (A Route Map from the Capital in the Four
Directions) drawn by Do Ba in the 17th century. It gave a very accurate
description of the two archipelagoes and confirmed that the Nguyen Lords
established the Hoang Sa Flotilla to exploit Hoang Sa islands in the
17th century.-VNA